As the Democrats continue their free-fall in public opinion - richly deserved IMV - some speculate that the "liberal slime machine" is a cause of this rather than, as Democrats presumably hope, a mitigation. An analysis:

For better or worse I have a much better sense of how the liberal slime machine works in practice, having been inside now a bit. This is all the more ironic because I consider myself to be cut from a similar political cloth to many of those who are engaged in all out war against me. Here are a few reflections.

Here is how it works. The really giant fish -- public intellectuals like Tom Friedman and Paul Krugman -- confer authority on the big fish of the liberal blogosphere. They do so by applauding the work of the big fish and saying that they trust them. This is a useful exchange because the big fish amplify the writings of the giant fish in the blogosphere and do the dirty work of taking down their political opponents by playing some gutter politics that the giant fish would rather not be seen playing. This has the effect of establishing the big fish as people to be listened to, not because they are necessarily right about things, but because the giant fish listen to them and the giant fish set political agendas.

Among these big fish feeding the giant fish are Joe Romm, Brad Delong, RealClimate, and there are of course many others, but these are the ones I have first-hand experience with (lucky me). Each of these professionals has great potential to positively influence policy debates in positive ways. Instead they all actively have chosen to engage in pretty embarrassing and unethical behavior that caters to tribal, echo-chamber politics. Their behavior is not only a poor reflection on them as individuals but it serves to intensify partisan splits and actually work against effective policy making, as has been written about by Cass Sunstein and Clive Crook.

Others have speculated that the Democrats have no hope of regaining credibility or popularity and that the slime machine is aimed inward as a deterrent to those who might break ranks. Let the left-leaning quasi-independents express their disgust and unhappiness so long as the small core of those who owe their lives and livelihoods to the Democrats don't think that they too can duck and cover. They must stand, fight and die if need be or the Democrats will kill them in retreat. Journalists, academics, bureaucrats etc. take note.

That the idea of good policy has long since been abandoned is quite clear. None of the "policy debates" have anything at all to do with good governance, it's just gang warfare for control of turf and it doesn't matter to the citizens which side wins since they will be exploited and abused by which ever gang wins.